2024 MATRIX HONOREE

JILL CRESS

Chief Marketing and Experience Officer, H&R Block

Jill Cress is an innovative marketer and strategist who pushes boundaries as the Chief Marketing and Experience Officer for H&R Block. She leads a dynamic team invested in transforming customer experience, modernizing and infusing its brand into highly relevant channels, and amplifying strategic marketing and comms efforts to deliver growth.

For more than 30 years, Cress has honed her skills as a strategic and passionate consumer, B2B marketer and experience strategist with deep expertise in financial services, media and technology. She has held leadership roles across marketing, general management, product and enterprise strategy at leading Fortune 500 Companies.

Prior to H&R Block, Cress served as vice president of brand marketing for PayPal, where she also had responsibility for all Venmo marketing. In addition, she was the chief marketing and communications officer at National Geographic Partners and served for more than 20 years at MasterCard Worldwide. There she held executive leadership roles in strategy and marketing, in addition to serving as country general manager for the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Cress serves on the boards of the Ad Council and the Wealth Enhancement Group, an independent wealth management firm overseeing more than $71 billion in client assets. She has been recognized for numerous accolades, including Adweek’s inaugural Marketing Vanguard list, Forbes’ list of the World’s 50 Most Influential CMOs, Forbes’ inaugural CMO Next List, and Business Insider’s 25 Most Innovative CMOs.

Cress holds a bachelor’s degree from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. She is a self-described “explorer at heart” who loves experiencing new places and brands that connect with consumers in exciting ways. Her family lives in New York, and in her free time Cress enjoys spending time with her husband Todd and daughter Beatrix, exploring the city and the world when they have the time!

Presenting the Matrix Award to Jill Cress

DEVIKA BULCHANDANI

Global Chief Executive Officer, Ogilvy

Devika Bulchandani is a world-class marketer who leads with passion, purpose, and an uncompromising focus on creating impact. As Global CEO of Ogilvy she is responsible for all aspects of the creative network’s business which spans Advertising, PR, Consulting, Experience, and Health across 124 offices in 88 countries. 

Under her leadership, Ogilvy was named Network of the Year at the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Ogilvy earned this honor by producing work that upended the status quo, altered the conversation, and created meaningful change. “Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad” for Cadbury Celebrations earned the prestigious Titanium Lion, awarded for boundary-busting work that pushes the industry forward, by using machine learning to put Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan into thousands of ads to support the thousands of small, local businesses greatly affected by the pandemic. “Toxic Influence” for Dove raised awareness about the impact of toxic social content and aimed to inspire and empower young people to turn their social media feeds into a positive space. Two Ogilvy campaigns received the Glass Lion for Change: Lacta’s “Don’t Ever Leave Me,” an emotional film addressing the issue of domestic violence, and  “Morning After Island,” which sought to overturn Honduras’s 2009 decree banning the sale, distribution and severe penalties for using emergency contraception pills. Since Devika assumed the role of global CEO of Ogilvy in 2022, the company has garnered numerous accolades, including being named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies (2023), Adweek’s Global Agency of the Year (2023), and Campaign’s Creative Agency Global Network (2022, 2023). 

As a leader who believes in the power of creativity to make a positive impact on society, Dev’s proudest achievements have occurred at the intersection of the social causes she champions and brand-building efforts on behalf of clients. She was the driving force behind Mastercard’s long-running “Priceless” campaign and “True Name,” a first-of-its-kind feature launched in 2019 that empowers transgender and non-binary people to display their chosen name on their Mastercard. Known for ideas that capture the cultural zeitgeist, Dev also helped launch “Fearless Girl,” an iconic and beloved symbol of women’s equality – it also became one of the most awarded campaigns in the history of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.  

Her achievements have been widely recognized by organizations within and outside the industry. The New York Women in Communication (NYWIC) has recognized Dev in as an honoree at the 2022 Matrix Awards, which honors women who are making a difference, building community, and inspiring the next generation of female leaders in their field. She has been named a NY Power Women by Moves Magazine (2020); US Advertising Agency Head of the Year (2019) by Campaign Magazine; Working Mother of the Year (2017) by She Runs It; and an ADCOLOR Innovator.  She has won multiple 4As Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Planning. She has also been honored by the National Breast Cancer Coalition for her work to raise awareness for the organization. 

Born in India, she received her bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology at St. Xavier’s in Mumbai before going on to receive her master’s in Communications at the University of Southern California. Dev and her husband live in New York City with their son and daughter, whom they are raising to be enlightened individuals unafraid to change the world for the better.